


Reversing the Wheel of Fate

by VentingNonsense



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2018-04-26 18:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5015674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VentingNonsense/pseuds/VentingNonsense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His parents were too late that night, and so he died before he could live.</p>
<p>His parents died that night, and they died so he could live.</p>
<p>Past and future collide, and the wheel of fate continues to turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Un-death

**Author's Note:**

> I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Naruto awoke, scream half-garbled in his mouth. Years of experience forced his mind to examine the room for threats. Finding none, he forcefully willed his body to relax before opening his eyes again and really seeing the room around him.

The unfamiliar ceiling and walls greeted him, their pale whiteness blinding in the mid-day sun. Naruto squinted out of the window as much as he could, then his eyes widened in shock. _It couldn't be..._

The sky was blue. Naruto hadn't seen such a sight in ten years, since before the war. He activated Sasuke's Sharingan from his right eye, to check if it was a genjutsu, but nothing changed. He choked back a sob, tears streaming from his face. _Kurama...you really did it._

_I told you I would, brat,_ the fox's voice rumbled in his head, weakly. _Now be quiet. I have to sleep._

_Right, buddy,_ Naruto thought back. _You deserve it._

No sooner did Naruto lean back and relax against the hospital bed did a nurse barge into the room. Naruto attempted a grin, but he wasn't too sure on its result, since his mind felt incredibly foggy and his muscles were far too numb to attempt anything. The nurse's eyes widened and she gasped, nearly dropping her clipboard, before walking hurriedly out of the room. Naruto blinked at this, but shrugged it off as 'weird hospital quirks'. He stared at the ceiling for what felt like a couple of minutes, before the nurse came walking hurriedly back in, followed by a doctor.

The doctor merely blinked, a far different reaction to the nurse's startled one, when Naruto attempted to grin at her as well. "Well, it seems the patient is awake. Take this," she told the nurse, giving him a clipboard. The nurse nodded and stood by the door as the doctor examined his...

Naruto looked down as far as he could and suppressed the urge to groan. The gaping hole left by Sasuke's Chidori fourteen years ago was torn right open again. Even though Naruto found that it didn't hurt, he certainly didn't want Kurama to deal with the stress of having to heal that again. The doctor's glowing green hands pressed over the wound, and Naruto was grateful that his muscles were too weak to respond properly, as he would have flinched from the touch of another person's chakra invading his body, which probably would have jostled the wound even further. As it was, his chakra still ended up giving a little fight, to which the doctor frowned, before conceding and allowing the healing chakra to properly mend his body.

"He seems to be recovering nicely," the doctor told the nurse, who jotted down something in her clipboard. "A little _too_ nicely; he shouldn't still be awake at this stage in recovery." She nodded. "Notice how the patient is recovering from the wound; a normal person would be feeling the pain, yet the patient is entirely too at ease with the wound. We can thus consider that--"

"Excuse me," Naruto croaked, and he grimaced at how dry his throat was. "Don't, want to, be an, experiment," he managed to choke out. She turned to him, eyebrows raised.

"My apologies, sir," the doctor nodded respectfully towards him. "My student is studying how to deal with emergency situations such as these. Your, ah, situation, seemed to be the perfect chance to get some experience in. Don't worry though," she amended hastily, as if he were about to snap at her (he wasn't). "I will be doing the bulk of the work, and she will merely provide assistance here and there."

Naruto released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. "I see. Good luck, then."

"I'm glad to see you're not unreasonable like some other people are," she smiled gratefully. "All right, then, notice how the patient--"

"Naruto," he interjected, eyelids already drooping.

"--Naruto-san is healing in these areas," the doctor finished without missing a beat, only sparing the slightest of hesitations to raise an eyebrow at him. "Normally, skin would be covering this area, so this is a prime example to see just how it is actually mended." The student leaned in curiously. "As we went over last time, ordinarily we'd have to manipulate our chakra to stimulate angiogenesis, but here..."

Naruto nodded off slowly, listening to the soothing voice of the doctor and letting the healing chakra settle his body.

"...actually recreate _vasculogenesis_ , an entirely different process..."

He dove straight down into the abyss of his mind.

* * *

He was awoken by the sound of shouting.

"...said he was _my son!_ How _dare_ anyone get a hold of his..."

"...could have been inaccurate -- look, Kushina-nee, it's a _highly_ inaccurate..."

"...can't truly believe that, can you, Rin-chan? Look, even if he _isn't_ , the..."

"...get that, I truly do, but sensei, it's just not possible. You said..."

Naruto coughed quietly, but the three experienced ninja at his door heard it anyway. A red-haired woman looked furious, and ready to stomp inside the room, but his doctor was holding her back, and a blond-haired man was trying to talk to he--oh.

_Kurama, what, exactly, did you do?_ Naruto asked, but there was no response. As Naruto expected; Kurama took a huge beating from the time-travel in the first place, so he was more than allowed to sleep after that.

A white-haired man peered curiously into the room. Naruto stifled a gasp at the appearance of... "Kakashi-sensei?" he managed to croak out.

The white-haired man's single visible eye widened. Naruto realized he wouldn't exactly be a sensei at this point in time, and inwardly winced at his slip-up.

"I'd be your son's teacher if he were still alive, right?" Kakashi-sensei -- because it couldn't possibly be anyone else -- asked the blond -- his _father_ \-- in a curious tone.

"Well, yes, but I don't see what that has to do with..." He trailed off, his eyes widening in horrified fascination, before barreling into the room over his doctor's -- Rin's -- protests.

" _Time travel?!_ " Minato asked in horrified fascination, staring at Naruto in a confusing blur of emotions that Naruto couldn't place.

Naruto weakly grinned, and felt triumph as he actually felt the movement across his face. "Kinda," he croaked out.

"No, of course not just _time_ travel, it had to be _dimension_ travel," Minato mumbled into his hand. "Alternate universes exist, then..."

"Excuse me, dear, but what are you talking about?" Kushina demanded, red hair starting to split into nine ends. "And what does this have to do with the asshole that stole my son's genes?"

"Our," he corrected offhandedly. "And this might just _be_ our son," he said in a tone that signified awe and curiosity but a firm determined belief in the fact. "From an alternate universe."

"You're sure?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Mostly," Minato sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head _exactly like how Naruto did it_ , before he continued, "But it's the only thing that makes even a modicum of sense. Look, I _specialize_ in space-time jutsu, so I was aware that something like this was _possible_ , but this..." He laughed, almost hysterically. "It boggles the mind! _Our son_ , Kushina! Managed to finish something that Nidaime-sama and I couldn't even begin to understand!"

"...Kurama," Naruto spoke up, and winced as every head in the room turned to see him. "...wasn't possible, with just me. So, Kurama..."

"Ah," Minato said with a smile. "We all have to thank that Kurama friend of yours, then. A pity he wasn't able to be here as well, but at least _one_ of you survived, eh?"

"Still here. Kyuubi," Naruto corrected, watching as the people in the room flinched. "Kyuubi's name."

"Wait, he has a _name?_ " Kushina screamed, and Naruto stared dumbly at the woman who was his biological mother. "Why didn't he _tell me_?"

"...names are, special, to the bijuu," Naruto explained hesitantly, not understanding Kushina's anger, or the way she froze at his response. "Only given, and only used, by close friends."

"...I wasn't aware that it was _sentient_ ," Minato asked, also stunned by Naruto's response. "That...changes things."

"You..." Kushina looked at him curiously. "You have the Kyuubi?"

Naruto nodded as best he could in his position. "Had to," he coughed. "No choice but me."

"No choice?" both of them echoed.

"Mom and Dad, protected me," Naruto said with a nostalgic grin. "Stopped the Kyuubi, from attacking me."

Minato and Kushina both flinched violently. Naruto stared at them, uncomprehending. "That," Minato said, before swallowing. "That sounds like what we did that night."

Kushina stared at Naruto before breaking out into hysterical tears. "We _tried_ , damn it! We _tried_ and--" She couldn't continue, and cried into Minato's shoulder, who was awkwardly trying to comfort her while crying himself.

Kakashi, meanwhile, was leaning against the wall, but walked up to Naruto's bed. Naruto blinked. Kakashi lifted a hand to his head--

\--and Naruto froze as Kakashi petted him. "So, you're Minato's kid, then?" he asked in a tone that Naruto knew was deliberately nonchalant.

"Yeah," Naruto said, and he relaxed a bit as Kakashi's hand rubbed soothing patterns over and over again.

Before he knew it, he slipped back into the abyss of his mind.

* * *

"It's been ten years, dear," Minato soothed his wife, or tried to, anyway, as they were steered out of the room by an irritated Rin, who noticed that her patient was sleeping. "Naruto would have been in the Academy at this time, right? I could have been wrong, you know."

"But -- that has to be our son," Kushina sobbed. "Who else would you have put the Kyuubi in, if not me?"

"Yes, yes," Minato agreed. "But, our son -- he looks too old to need parents. What if he..." _rejects us_ , went unsaid, as neither Minato nor Kushina could bear the thought.

"Well, sensei," Kakashi interjected, oddly cheerful. "You're just going to have to ask him yourself when he gets better."

Minato stared blankly at his student.

Kakashi coughed into his hand. "You're going to have to question him anyway, as the Hokage."

Minato's eyes lit up in realization.

Kakashi palmed his face. "Of _course_ you'd forget you were the Hokage."

Kushina laughed more than a bit hysterically, as if Kakashi made the world's funniest joke, but given the previous events nobody had the will to stop her from doing so.

Rin stepped out of their son's room, looking for all the world like she was the most important person in the world. "Good news -- he's recovering better than well. He'll be allowed to leave in a few days if he keeps up this rate of healing."

"Have you figured out where the injuries came from?" Minato asked, arm still around his wife. Said wife was drying her tears and getting poise back into her posture.

"The major one -- the biggest worry -- seems to have come from Kakashi's Chidori," Rin said, and Kakashi looked startled at that. Kushina turned angry, but before she could yell, Rin interjected, "Obviously, it wasn't -- if it _was_ Kakashi, Naruto-san certainly wouldn't have fallen asleep so easily under his touch. _Yes_ , Kakashi, I saw that." Kakashi looked sheepish at Rin's pointed gaze. "For obvious reasons, I know exactly what the Chidori would look like if it didn't kill its target," she continued, ignoring Kakashi's instinctive flinch at the reminder, "but ignoring all of that, the only real curiosities are the seal on his stomach -- which we now know is his Jinchuuriki seal -- as well as the Sharingan in his right eye."

"A Sharingan?" Kakashi echoed, rubbing the spot on his headband where Obito's Sharingan would be. "Does he --"

"It's been integrated pretty tightly into his system," Rin replied. "Whoever did it was a far better medic than me, and I'd love to know just how he or she managed to pull it off." She checked her clipboard, and frowned. "Actually, it gives the exact same amount of drain as yours does -- but at less cost overall, since Naruto-san's reserves are well above even Kushina-nee's."

"Well, he _is_ my son," Kushina said, almost smiling at the idea. Then she frowned deeply. "Wait, we _died_ in his world. He doesn't know us, then?"

"I would imagine not," Rin replied, sighing. "Seeing as how he barely reacted upon seeing you two, it can be assumed that he simply doesn't remember you in his life in any way except in a factual sense."

Minato cried at the idea. Kushina moved to comfort him this time. Kakashi looked vaguely uncomfortable at the news.

"So, I took up --"

"Oh, I doubt that, too," Rin replied. "Don't you remember what you were like nine years ago? Goodness, you would have done nothing had I not physically dragged you out of your delusional self-hatred kick." Rin shrugged. "We can assume that that was how you were to Naruto-san. Given the circumstances at the time, when everything was touch-and-go for a while, we can accept that and move on. We can then further assume that you had taught Naruto-san instead, most likely as a jounin-sensei, thanks to his instinctive reaction of calling you Kakashi-sensei." Rin flipped through her page. "Finally, we can assume that you may or may not have taught an Uchiha -- who gave Naruto-san his eye -- and also, potentially, maybe learned the Chidori?" Rin considered the idea. "I don't know if it would be the same person who did the damage. Might have been a training accident, even. I can't say for sure."

"How did you get all of that from the three minutes you were in there?" Kakashi asked.

Rin rolled her eyes. "I paid attention, _duh_. I've been his primary doctor for the past week, I think I know Naruto-san's physical state better than anyone else in this world."

Minato finally stopped crying, and wiped his eyes. "I think, as Hokage, I think I should be told if any changes come up."

Rin rolled her eyes again, exasperated. "Of course, sensei. You're _also_ family, so there's literally no reason I could refuse to tell you even if I wanted to."

Minato smiled a bit wobbly, but looked grateful all the same. "Thank you, Rin-chan. Keep up the good work."

"Of course, sensei," Rin bowed deeply, before waving at Kakashi who escorted them back to the Hokage tower. Kakashi saluted back and basically pushed the two out of the hospital.

Rin sat down on the chair outside of Naruto's room and sighed deeply. "This has been a troublesome couple of days," she groused.

"Tell me about it," Naruto croaked from the doorway. Rin's eyes widened and she turned to see Naruto leaning on the doorframe, obviously fatigued.

"Wha -- _Naruto-san!_ " Rin couldn't believe that Naruto was already capable of walking! His regeneration must be insane! Naruto's tired grin told the whole story, and Rin sighed in relief, before setting her face.

"You shouldn't be standing up yet," Rin scolded, and Naruto's grin turned sheepish, and he put his hand behind his head -- just like sensei did. Rin pushed him towards his bed. "You have to stay and rest, Naruto-san, even if your healing rate is completely absurd. We can't have you hurting yourself again!"

"But Rin-chan," Naruto groaned. "I'm feeling better, honest."

"That doesn't matter," Rin said, even though she was inwardly pleased at the honorific. _Like father, like son, I guess._ "You have to heal, and your body needs to rest."

"Okay, okay," Naruto mumbled, as Rin finished making sure the measurement equipment was secured properly.

"Get some sleep, Naruto-san," Rin said, and she walked towards the doorway. Before flicking off the light, she turned to make sure Naruto was listening -- but he was already asleep. She smiled at the sight, and turned off the light.


	2. Rebirth

Minato stretched wearily, and stamped his seal to yet another form. Currently, the Hokage, the strongest ninja in the village, Konoha's de facto leader, was doing copious amounts of paperwork.

He decided to take a break. Creating a Kage Bunshin to continue with the paperwork, he waved at it and left to take a peaceful walk through the streets of Konoha. Walking towards Ichiraku Ramen, he briefly considered eating there, before shaking his head. _Kushina'd probably kill me._

He noticed that he was walking in the direction of the hospital and forced his feet to walk the other way. Just yesterday, he found that an alternate-universe version of his son existed, and if what Rin said, he wouldn't understand the concept of family. Minato scowled at the thought. _Just what happened in that world of his...?_

Throughout his childhood, as an orphan, Minato dreamed of having a family. He had planned to start one with Kushina, maybe have a few kids, but after the Kyuubi's attack and their son's death, they'd spent the time grieving. To the average grieving person, having their son back, alive and healthy, would be a godsend. After Rin's comments, Minato thought differently.

_Is he_ really _my son? Do I have the right to treat him like that, when his parents died years ago...?_

Minato, being deeply lost in thought, nearly stumbled into a person walking close to him, but years of jounin training caused him to hyper-focus and pay attention to the suspicious person.

A man in an orange mask jauntily waved at him. "Hi, sensei!"

Minato blinked, then squinted. "Obito...? What are you wearing?"

"This?" He tapped his thumb on the mask. "I got it at a festival. Look -- it only has one eyehole! Isn't that cool?"

"It's kind of like Kakashi's eye," Minato noticed. Obito scoffed.

"It's _cooler_ than Bakakashi," Obito muttered sullenly, crossing his arms. "It matches my eye, _and_ it's orange."

"Of course, of course," Minato raised his hands in surrender. "So you're going to wear that all day?"

"Maybe," Obito replied. "Maybe not. Hey -- are the rumors true? That there's some sort of illegitimate son of yours holed up in the hospital?"

Minato blinked. "Where did you hear that?"

"Nah, you're right, it's stupid," Obito acknowledged, folding his hands over his head.

"I didn't say it was _wrong_ ," Minato said slowly, thinking quickly, mental gears whirring, figuring out the implications. _Perhaps...yes, that could work._ Minato quickly turned about face, walking quickly towards the hospital, Obito following hurriedly.

"Hey, wait, sensei, where are you going?" Obito asked, adjusting his mask as he walked quickly. Minato didn't answer, instead looking straight ahead with a determined expression.

Minato stormed through the hospital, Obito taking a leisurely pace. Minato opened the door and walked stiffly into the room. Besides Naruto on his bed, Rin and Kakashi were both in there -- Kakashi with his nose in his book, and Rin writing notes in her notepad. Naruto's eyes were closed, and by the look of the equipment it appeared that he was sleeping.

Kakashi waved an arm at his sensei and his teammate. "Yo."

Minato looked straight at the man on the bed, then at Rin, nearly ignoring his two other students completely. "How would he feel about being known as my illegitimate kid?"

Obito stopped in time to prevent a collision with his sensei. "Sensei?" He looked over Minato's shoulder. "Hey, who's the kid?"

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and before anyone could react, he flickered to Obito, weapons drawn and snarling, chakra swirling around dangerously.

"Whoa, whoa, hey, Naruto," Minato tried, but Naruto's eyes -- turned red by the Kyuubi's influence -- flickered to him and he noticed the sheer _anger_ radiating from his body.

Obito, meanwhile, was struggling in Naruto's grip, hands grasping at the arm holding him aloft by the throat. Obito's Sharingan flickered from behind the mask, but Naruto's grip grew tighter in response. Kakashi quickly lifted up his headband, revealing his Sharingan, and sent Obito away into the Kamui dimension.

Naruto growled, looking like he was going to murder Kakashi, but Rin slapped him in the back of the head with healing chakra, knocking him unconscious.

There was a pregnant silence. "I have no idea what happened," Minato confessed. Kakashi pulled his headband back down to cover his eye.

Rin wrote a few notes in her notepad, then set that aside and moved to lift Naruto up onto the bed again. "Kakashi," she started, but Kakashi already started to lift his other side. Together, they laid him on the bed.

"Clearly, he has issues with an alternate version of Obito," Rin said, before shrugging. "Exactly _what_ , I have absolutely no idea. Obito...he's the _least-harmless_ thing in existence."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what he had done," Naruto growled from the bed, clearly conscious but making no move to open his eyes.

Rin jumped, startled, before frowning. "This is going to be a thing, isn't it? This thing where, I know it's impossible for an ordinary human, but you go and do it anyway, this is a thing now, isn't it?"

Naruto cracked a grin. "Sorry, Rin-chan," he replied weakly. "I've always been called unpredictable."

Rin huffed. "Impossible, more like," she muttered.

Kakashi moved closer to Naruto. "What was that about?" he asked dangerously.

Naruto cracked an eye open to look at Kakashi -- his Sharingan eye, both Minato and Rin noticed, although inactive at the moment -- and glared. "That man..."

"Is my best friend," Kakashi cut off. "And I don't appreciate having my friends hurt, Naruto."

"He _ruined my world._ " Naruto grunted. "You stand here, trying to defend him, but you have no idea what he's capable of. All of the lives lost, all of the pain and suffering _that man_ has caused."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Bullshit."

Naruto closed his eyes and turned over, away from both Kakashi and Minato. "Whatever. Believe it or not, it doesn't matter."

Minato cleared his throat. "...Obito hasn't done any of that in this world. Hopefully, he never will. Naruto...for you, this is a fresh chance, a chance to live the life you never got. Don't squander it by dwelling too hard on the past."

Naruto growled, but Minato turned to Rin instead of continuing. "Rin, call me if anything changes. Kakashi, tell Obito I want to see him in my office."

Kakashi saluted, and Rin nodded. Minato turned around and exited without saying another word. As soon as he got ten feet away from the door, he flashed out of existence.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Kushina asked, sounding worried. Minato sighed and released his control over his emotions, plopping down onto the couch and laying his head in his hands.

"I went to see Naruto," Minato confessed. Kushina felt a bit of anger at him having done so without her, but firmly squashed it down, standing behind the couch and kneading Minato's hair in her hands.

"What happened?" Kushina asked, softly. Minato shuddered at her touch, and obligingly put his hands down.

"Naruto...he nearly killed Obito," Minato said, voice lowering at the memory. Kushina stifled a gasp -- cute, clumsy _Obito_? -- and Minato made a noise of agreement. "I just...I don't understand. Why would...?" Minato raised his head. "Naruto said that...Obito ruined his world. That Obito was the biggest problem in history. I just don't understand _how._ "

Kushina's hands stilled, and Minato turned his head to look at her. "Kushina?"

"Minato," she spoke slowly. "Didn't Rin say that we died in that other world?"

Minato frowned. "Yeah?"

"And _how_ much does Obito care for us?"

Minato stared blankly, then looked horrified. "You think...?"

Kushina walked towards the front of the couch. "It might not be true, but it would definitely explain it, don't you think?"

Not for the first time, Minato mused, did he damn the Uchiha, but it was the first time he'd damn them for caring too much. Minato sighed. "The scary thing is, I can definitely see that happening."

"What are we going to do about it?" Kushina asked, sitting next to Minato and looking expectantly at him.

Minato shook his head. "I have no idea."

* * *

"I'm sorry," Naruto said to Kakashi after Minato left. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"You almost killed him; sorry really isn't going to cut it." Kakashi sighed. "I _just_ got him back..."

Rin whacked him on the head with the clipboard. "It's been _nine years._ Let it go."

Naruto stared between the two of them, before shaking his head. "Still...I knew that he wasn't my Obito. It's just..." he groaned. "It's hard to believe that the mass-murdering psychopath of my time was once a hyperactive loon like you told me."

Kakashi blinked. " _Psychopath._ "

Naruto wasn't listening. "I know that...this is a new world. And that things aren't the same as they were in my world." He looked straight at Kakashi. "I need to talk to the Hokage."

Rin whacked him on the head with the clipboard. "You aren't going _anywhere_ until you're healed."

"But Rin-chaaaan," Naruto whined, clutching his head. "I gotta apologize to my old maaaan."

Rin huffed. "You're free in a few days, anyway. Why can't you just wait until then?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I'll call sensei here soon." _We need to talk about what happened with Obito_ , he silently amended in his head.

Naruto pouted. "So basically you'll call him in tomorrow night."

Rin snickered at Kakashi's crestfallen face. "He's got you there, Kakashi."

* * *

"Hokage-sama!" an Uchiha policeman called. Minato stilled at the urgent tone in his voice.

"Yes?" Minato replied carefully, surreptitiously tensing his muscles in the event of an emergency.

"The Clan Head wishes to speak to you of an urgent matter," the Uchiha said, and Minato frowned, relaxing. If an agent of the Military Police didn't just say the problem, despite their words, it wasn't _truly_ urgent, but Minato knew that it wasn't like Uchiha Fugaku to send a runner in for a non-important message.

"Lead the way," Minato said, gesturing forward, and the Uchiha nodded and took the spot in front of him.

The Military Police agent took jerkily quick steps, but didn't simply _shunshin_ , so Minato took that as another hint that it wasn't _urgent_ , just important.

After a tense few minutes of walking, the policeman relaxed and inclined his head towards the opening of the Uchiha compound. "Please enter."

Minato nodded in response and entered the compound. His feet took him automatically into the direction of Mikoto's house, well-remembered after frequent visits during Kushina's pregnancy and subsequent grieving period. He let his feet wander and looked around and the lush scenery; the past nine years had been surprisingly kind to the Uchiha, with the children running around carelessly and the elders basking in the front of their respective houses. Minato couldn't help but smile at the Uchiha compound's glow of peacefulness.

He knocked on the door.

"Minato," Fugaku's wife, Mikoto, smiled warmly and ushered him in. "Come in, my husband is expecting you."

"A pleasure to see you, as always, Mikoto," Minato smiled in response. "Kushina wishes that you had more free time to visit her."

Mikoto laughed. "I truly wish I did! But my children take up so much of my time..."

Minato merely hummed in agreement, allowing himself to be guided towards their dining room table. "Surely not Itachi? Sasuke, I can understand -- but Itachi?"

Mikoto smirked. "Itachi, bless my heart, doesn't understand a mother's intuition as well as he thinks he does. He comes back from missions with more than a few scrapes, and I have to force him to enter the hospital."

Minato frowned, taking a seat. "Surely they aren't _that_ bad? I hand-pick the missions Itachi goes on, after all, and I try to keep the missions at around his approximate skill level."

Mikoto smiled serenely at Minato's admission, and simply shrugged. "It probably isn't as bad as I think it is -- but I'm biased and far too concerned."

"Nonsense," Minato scoffed. "Concern is good -- it means you care. Lack of concern would be worrying."

Mikoto just shrugged again. "If only you could get Itachi to see it that way."

Minato laughed. Mikoto handed him a glass with a smile, then left the room.

Fugaku came in to the dining room suddenly, nearly crashing into his frowning wife, gripping a bottle of sake like it was a lifeline. Judging from the obvious stress in his face, Minato mused, it probably _was_. Taking a glance down, he noticed that his gait was particularly sluggish, and grinned at Fugaku's bright pink fluffy slippers.

He only blinked at Minato's carefree perusal of his body, scoffing at Minato's grin. "They're comfortable."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," Minato said, still grinning. Then his grin dimmed. "What did you call me here for?"

Fugaku took a swig of his drink, before asking Minato, "Have you ever felt particularly confused about something, to the point where you wonder why it ever happened at all?"

Minato frowned. "Usually, when I feel that way, it's because I don't have the facts in order and I need to find out more information before acting on the event."

Fugaku nursed his drink. "Then, Minato, can you explain why an older version of my youngest son is lying on my bed?"

Before he could stop himself, Minato said, "Probably the same reason an older version of my _deceased_ son is in the hospital."

Fugaku stared at Minato, who stared back.

Fugaku poured him a glass. Minato took it gratefully.

"What the hell is going on?" Fugaku asked absently, swirling his drink around idly.

"Believe me, Fugaku, I wish I knew," Minato scowled, downing his glass in a single swig. He scrunched his face. "Wow, that is _strong_."

Fugaku smirked. "Imported from a special distillery in the Land of Tea." Minato hummed appreciatively.

"I assume it's so strong because of your clan's fire affinity?"

"You assume correctly." Fugaku then shrugged his shoulders. "We are getting off of the topic. What are you planning on doing with _your_ son?"

"I'm going to probably call him an illegitimate heir of some sort." Minato frowned. "Obviously, you can't do that with yours. But, if I may...?"

Fugaku took the hint. "Please, by all means," he said, waving towards the door he came in from. Minato gratefully entered the room and stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw.

On the sofa, clad in nearly the exact same outfit Obito had when he was brainwashed into attacking Konoha, was a young man with hair approximately rivaling Obito's own on that fateful day. His face was closed and peaceful, and his only visible hand was relaxed on his stomach. Minato took a few tentative steps forward, and he noticed that the young man's right eye was burned shut.

And he flinched, as he came in contact with concentric circles, purple eye glaring venomously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a good place to stop, isn't it?


	3. Uchiha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's shorter than usual because I'm stuck and don't know what else to add. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can probably stop reading after the first chapter, actually. The rest of the story is just silly nonsense I made to resemble some sort of plot.
> 
> Setsuna, mentioned below, is actually a canonical Uchiha, part of the Military Police at the time of the Second Hokage, who actively plotted to take back the power from the Senju (as mentioned in the Third Databook). I'm actually trying not to use original characters (which, if you've read literally any of my other stories, is basically anathema to my writing) but twisting the role of obscure characters is perfectly OK or something. There's also a flashback in the beginning of the story. I probably won't make another one in the story, because what happened in the other world really doesn't matter. In reality, I just wanted to see what blockquotes looked like in AO3. (They look pretty good, so I'm not complaining.)
> 
> Also: much kudos! Very thanks. Wow.

> "Naruto."
> 
> Sasuke looked at his best friend of fourteen years and scowled. "Don't tell me that this is one of your absolutely ridiculous ideas again."
> 
> "No way, Sasuke," the man laughed. Time truly changed his attitude -- whereas the young version of the blond would be indignant, this man only showed fond amusement. "This is a _great plan,_ trust me." He raised the scroll he was working on to prove his point.
> 
> "Like that stupid reverse-harem jutsu you made?" Sasuke scoffed.
> 
> "Oi!" Naruto huffed, indignant. _Ah, there it is._ "I'll have you know that it went _exactly as planned_ , teme."
> 
> Sasuke's scowl didn't abate in the slightest.
> 
> Naruto shook a fist at him. "Hey, it gave me an opening to beat the shit out of her! It was _worth it_ , dammit."
> 
> Sasuke rolled his single eye. "Of _course._ Because only the Hokage knows that your stupidly insane plans never fail."
> 
> Instead of being indignant at this as well, the blond grinned cheekily. "You know the universe revolves around me, Sasuke."
> 
> Sasuke scoffed and turned away, conceding the point. Despite their monumental setbacks, the world always seemed to come through for the two of them, Naruto more obviously.
> 
> Said blond tensed up rapidly, eyes widening. "Oh, _shit_. They're here."
> 
> Sasuke stiffened, ready for a fight. Naruto looked up --
> 
> The ceiling exploded in a shower of wood chips and splinters. Naruto cursed as he jumped up, intercepting a thrown knife with his bare hands, Sharingan spinning rapidly. Sasuke launched an Amaterasu before the ninja could attack, and he grabbed Naruto and teleported across the room rapidly until Naruto managed to generate his own chakra cloak.
> 
> Then, it was a race against time to salvage what they could against the reanimated undead.

* * *

The owner of the purple eye stared at the blond Hokage, before slowly relaxing. He looked up at the ceiling and huffed, a short, halting laugh barely escaping his lungs. "That _idiot_ ," he gasped out. Minato took a closer look at the young man and saw that he was smiling -- faintly, but definitely a smile.

The man on the couch closed his eyes. Minato dimly realized that he was so quickly asleep, his own mind whirring at the implications.

_Naruto somehow brought Sasuke with him? This is my son's best friend?_

Minato took halting steps out of the room. barely paying any attention to the Uchiha family as they greeted their two children. _Or would it be three now? No, but this is the same situation as Naruto, so it would still only be two, because that isn't their son -- but it still is..._

Minato shook his head vigorously, clearing his head of the thought, before looking at Itachi, who looked like he had asked something. "Sorry, did you say something?"

Itachi just stared at him blankly. He looked to Mikoto, who was stifling a laugh behind her hand, to Fugaku, who was clearly amused but hiding it with the ease of years of practice, to Sasuke, who was openly giggling. "...Did you hear a word I said?" Itachi asked wearily.

"Ah, no, sorry." Minato rubbed the back of his head. "I was lost in thought."

Fugaku scoffed. "So _that's_ where the Hatake brat gets it from."

"Where he gets _what_ from?" Minato asked, completely lost.

Fugaku only shook his head. "Never mind."

"What are you going to do with him?" Itachi asked, while his mother and brother were trying and failing to stem their amusement. "You're not taking him to T&I, are you?"

"I'm pretty sure I can't," Minato said drily, "since the Uchiha clan has way more rights than the average clan -- the inability to torture or interrogate suspected Uchiha is one of them."

Even as Itachi heaved a sigh of relief, Fugaku scowled harder, eyes glaring. "What."

Minato blinked at the sheer rage and disbelief on Fugaku's face. "...You didn't know?"

"I only knew that people avoided our clan like the plague," Fugaku muttered.

"Well, yes," Minato conceded. "Because your clan runs the entire Military Police, and most people don't want to get in trouble with the law, even if they have nothing to hide." As Fugaku thought about this, Minato continued off-handedly, "Also, Uchiha are pretty much exempt from most laws _because_ the police is governed by Uchiha, and most people would be hesitant to jail their own families."

"Are you insinuating that there are Uchiha that get off from under the law?" Fugaku asked, gritting his teeth.

"I'm not insinuating that," Minato said, still nonchalant, and completely unaffected by Fugaku's rapidly-decreasing self-control. "I'm outright _stating_ that. It's an open secret about your terrifying ability to love, after all, and although I respect your clan, I'm also fully aware of the horrors that desperation can bring."

" _Get out,_ " Fugaku finally snapped.

Minato shrugged. "Well, alright. But think of this -- just a little thought experiment for you, Uchiha-sama," he said with a bland smile, refusing to use Fugaku's given name for added effect. "Given the choice between an Uchiha and a victim from any other clan, knowing full well that the Uchiha was absolutely guilty of all crimes, but also having grown up with that Uchiha -- being fully aware of his flaws, personality, _everything_ about the person -- could you then convict that Uchiha?"

"Of course we would," Fugaku growled, looking like he was about to bodily throw Minato out of his house.

"Really?" Minato's bland smile was unmoved. "Because I don't think you would." With that he flashed away, leaving no trace of his ever being there.

Fugaku squeezed his teacup to its shattering point, ignoring the ceramic shards piercing his hand. "Of _course_ we would," Fugaku spat. "We are _trusted_ to do this."

"Would you really?" Itachi asked, eyes as empty and cold as his voice. Fugaku started to re-affirm his position, but Itachi interrupted him. "If it were, say, someone like Setsuna," an elder of the Uchiha Clan, "could you then arrest him?"

"Setsuna-sama would never do that," Fugaku growled.

Itachi shook his head. "It seems you missed the point of the thought experiment, Father." With that, he ushered Sasuke out of the kitchen, leaving a fuming Fugaku and worried Mikoto alone.

"The boy speaks nonsense," Fugaku seethed in his seat.

"Minato is no ordinary boy," Mikoto chided. "Besides, I was in his graduating class, he isn't as young as you think, dear."

Fugaku snorted. "You will be forever young, my love."

Mikoto smiled. "That's sweet, but missing the point."

Fugaku rolled his eyes. "What do you want me to say? That we can barely tolerate outsiders because they don't really understand how we work? That the village's elders have their _heads shoved so firmly up their own asses that they **can't understand the reasons?**_ ...or that the clan's elders have the exact same problem?"

Mikoto blinked at Fugaku's suddenly weary tone, but the most surprising thing was a noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a cough coming from the direction of the sofa, followed by heavy rustling sounds. Mikoto tensed, Jounin reflexes, rusted from disuse, suddenly firing rapidly, while Fugaku merely frowned and activated his Sharingan.

Three tense heartbeats later, the young man leaned against the side of the doorway, arms crossed, smirking wearily, his sole eye spinning in its socket.

* * *

Naruto groaned. Minato apparently came up with the stupidest idea while he was out, one that Naruto could not understand. " _Why_ would I be your bastard son? _How_ would I be your bastard son? You're _Kushina-sexual._ "

Minato actually squeaked in embarrassment. Kushina snickered in the background, being of absolutely no help. "W-well, I mean..."

Naruto sighed. He understood that Minato desperately wanted a family, and with his younger self's premature death, the dream was put on hold for ten years, but... "Can't I just be your _cousin_ or something? I'm a _bit too old_ to be your son."

"Well, yes, but," Minato muttered, eyes shining with tears. "I'd like a son."

"I know, but," Naruto wanted to pull his hair out. A sappy, sentimental Minato was a _pain in the ass_ to deal with. "It's _very illogical_ , since I look like I'm about five years older than you."

"Which reminds me -- why _are_ you so old?" Minato asked, dabbing at his eyes. "I expected you to be younger, if it was actually time travel."

Naruto groaned. "See, it was _supposed_ to be a time-travel seal, but it warped out of control mid-transit and, I guess, transported us to a different dimension?" He shrugged. "Obito and Rin-chan are alive, which was the most obvious change. In my time, Rin-chan, at least, died years before I was even born."

Minato frowned. "And Obito..."

Naruto clenched the sheet tightly. "It's best not to talk about that."

Minato stared at the face of the young man with such a close resemblance to him. Mismatched eyes stared back. "And the story behind the eye?"

Naruto blinked at the non-sequitur. "...It was my best friend's eye. I lost my eye and he felt like he owed me. Then, well," he shrugged. "It was impossible to transplant it back, so I just kept it."

Minato snapped his fingers. "Because of the burn covering his eye socket?"

Naruto's eyes widened, and he broke out into the biggest grin Minato had ever seen. "He made it back, too?!" he asked, breathless. Minato nodded, and Naruto relaxed in relief, sagging back into the chair he sat in. "That's _awesome,_ " he finally said, completely and finally at ease. "That's really, really good."

"Why?" Kushina finally asked from the corner of the room.

"Because," Naruto said, resting his eyes on her. "It means we can _change_ things." His grin grew wider. "And he's my other half, too."

Minato blinked. "You're married?"

Kushina laughed as Naruto sputtered, "Wh-what?! N-no, stupid old man! I meant that we're _super_ close! Where the hell did you get that idea?!"

"Well, when you start talking about yourself as half a person, incomplete without another, that usually implies marriage," Kushina said, grinning like a loon.

Naruto groaned. "We were both married, and to _women_ , thank you very much." He sighed. "With kids, even."

The room's temperature fell as Minato and Kushina winced at the sudden burst of despair emanating from Naruto's voice. Minato was reluctant to voice the question, but he _had_ to. "...What happened to them?"

Naruto gripped his sheets with both hands, and he shuddered. "The reversal of life and death," he finally said, nearly silently. "The reversal of the wheel of fate."

* * *

The wheel spun in Sasuke's eye as he drank in the first living view of his parents in twenty-nine years. "Hello, father, mother."

Mikoto blinked, and Fugaku rushed the young man, who, very calmly, raised his hand and caught his father's punch.

"It's been a very long time."

Mikoto's eyes widened, as did Fugaku's, who had to quickly pull his hand out of Sasuke's grip and retreat. Fugaku stood in front of his wife, almost protectively, while Mikoto altered her combat stance, covering each others' weak spots. Sasuke almost wished he could see them in action, but he wasn't here to fight them, so he put his sole hand up in surrender.

"I come in peace," Sasuke said, with an amused tone of voice. Fugaku growled and rushed him, gripping a kunai in his hand as he thrusted it towards Sasuke, but he smirked and switched places with his wife. Fugaku's eyes widened and he was barely able to stop his attack in time; Mikoto stared at him with wide eyes. He turned around to continue the assault, but Sasuke was no longer there.

Fugaku growled and sheathed his blade. Mikoto sighed and deactivated her Sharingan. Fugaku looked at his wife. "How did he--?"

Mikoto palmed her face, fatigued. "I don't know. It wasn't a jutsu I could copy."

Fugaku blinked, then he stopped in shock. "I can think?" His face warped into a grin. "I can think clearly!"

Mikoto looked at her husband in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Someone -- I don't remember who -- placed some sort of...Sharingan genjutsu on me," Fugaku said, grasping at his head and trying to remember. "I remember...the Sharingan, but something else. I just..."

Mikoto placed a hand on his shoulder, and Fugaku turned to see that she had a very stern look on her face. "We can't let the clan find out." As the clan head, it was the duty of every Uchiha to ensure his continued well-being. To think one of the clan was able to cast a jutsu on her husband, with nobody noticing...

Fugaku shuddered a breath. "Right." He straightened his back. "Right. First, we need to go to the Hokage."

Mikoto smiled at her husband. "Whatever you say, dear."

Fugaku turned back to her, confused. "...what? What am I missing?"

Mikoto's smile turned a bit sharper, and Fugaku froze. "Nothing at all, dear."

Fugaku scratched the back of his head. "...I won't be there all day?"

Instantly Mikoto turned away. "Not what I meant, but yes, you'd better not do that again."

_I did it before?_ Fugaku carefully didn't ask. Before his wife could weird him out again, Fugaku walked out of the house.

* * *

Fugaku came back into the house a few minutes later. Mikoto glanced at him and continued to wash the dishes. "You're back quickly."

"I forgot it was night-time." Mikoto almost stifled the laughter bubbling from her throat. Fugaku looked at her, annoyed, but not angry. _And what a change that makes,_ Mikoto mentally added, smiling at her husband. "What?" he muttered, embarrassed.

"Nothing," she said, and turned back to the dishes.


	4. Uzumaki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost my entire train of thought regarding this story. (I actually lost it halfway through last chapter, which is why it was rather terrible as an ending and as a stopping point.) It's been two years, have an update; I'm just gonna make stuff up and hope for the best. This chapter also has a terrible ending and stopping point, because I have learned _nothing_ in two years.
> 
> I wanted to write a time-travel story where both Naruto and Sasuke, at least, came back in time, and had _no romance whatsoever_ beyond canonically-established relationships. (I know, what a novel concept in fanfiction, am I right?) Apparently, my first two chapters were pretty good, but I think the third chapter is something of a terrible addition, because the only reason I wrote it like that was to establish an out-of-character Fugaku within the premise of this story. (Sasuke and Naruto being out of character can be handwaved as thanks to the war.)
> 
> I'm not really abandoning it so much as I have no idea what I can do with it; if I can think of anything, then neat, I'll probably do another update, but if anyone reading wants to work in this world, then go for it, I really don't care.

Kushina knocked loudly on the door. "Naruto? We're coming in." She and Minato both entered the room to find Naruto calmly relaxing on his bed.

"Mom? What's up?" Naruto asked, as he shifted his body towards the door. Thanks to Kurama being inactive, Naruto's healing was going remarkably slowly, although he was a right state better than even a few days ago.

"I think it's time we talk," she replied.

"...okay?" Naruto said, blinking.

"Yes, well," Minato said, clearing his throat. "I'm sorry, but what are you doing here?" He pointed at Sasuke, who was leaning on the wall closest to Naruto's bed.

Sasuke raised his visible eyebrow. "Protecting my Hokage."

Minato shook his head. "But how did you get in here?"

Sasuke smirked and pointed at the window.

Minato groaned, clutching his hair in frustration. "Fine -- never mind! Keep your secrets!"

As Minato fumed, Naruto turned to his best friend. "Wasn't that window covered in seals?"

Sasuke nodded.

Naruto and Sasuke stared each other down, but eventually Naruto relented with a sigh. "It's not important, I guess."

(He proceeded to ignore Sasuke's victory smirk.)

"Anyway," Minato said, relatively calmly. "We need to talk about your cover story."

Sasuke tilted his head in a faux-innocent manner. "What's wrong with telling everyone that we're time-traveling versions of children of prominent members of the village, sent back to try to stop an oncoming storm from a threat nobody in the village knows about or can even begin to understand?"

Minato stared blankly at him. "Besides everything?"

"Yeah, besides that," Sasuke affirmed with a nod.

Minato grabbed the bridge of his nose, and Naruto grinned. "He does the same to me, too."

Kushina made vague noises of amusement, but continued the discussion as Minato groaned. "So, like, we've added your story to the records -- you're a close cousin of Minato that happened to be found by his team and brought here for reconditioning. Anything we're missing?"

"I see a major one," Sasuke stated. All three of them turned to him and he waved. "Hi."

Kushina and Minato looked confused but Naruto groaned. "Yeah, the story wouldn't hold up, since we came here at the same time, y'know?"

"So?" Minato stared blankly at them. "Not only were you found in the Uchiha district, which is isolated enough as it is, but clan records are kept private for all except Uchiha, and I think Fugaku added whatever cover story he wanted to the record the instant he found that you were an Uchiha."

Sasuke blinked, then nodded. "Okay then, carry on."

"But Naruto, on the other hand, needs a backstory, as his individual history needs to be confirmed on record, so he's my cousin or something." He squinted at a spot on the ceiling. "Would he need a name change? It would be weird if people knew his name was the same as our deceased son, since we had a large funeral and everything."

Naruto shrugged, but stayed silent. _Can I borrow your name?_

_You know names are sacred among our kind,_ Kurama growled out. _Absolutely not._

_Come on, it would make things easier for us,_ Naruto wheedled out. _Besides, do you want_ Sasuke _to name us?_

Sasuke, meanwhile, humored himself by thinking of names for Naruto out loud. "...name him Fluffles. Or Scarface. Or Dickless. Or Vagabond Muffin the Third. Or..."

The worst part was, Minato was _considering them._

Kurama grimaced. _I see your point._

Naruto quickly interjected. "Sasuke. You lost all naming rights after you named your kid 'Salad'."

"Hey," Sasuke said with a shrug. "I was hungry. And besides, Sakura changed it."

"To 'Sarada'!" Naruto replied. "It's not much better!"

"We named her according to the Uchiha tradition!" Sasuke shouted back, then muttered, "Of, like, pre-Sage religious gods or something. I dunno. Besides, you have _no room to talk_ , _you_ named your kid 'Bolt'!"

"It's BORUTO," Naruto shouted back. "Bo-ru-to! It was because of Neji, you _dick!_ "

As they bickered, Minato looked at his wife helplessly, then blinked as he noticed her eyes turned red. "Are you okay, love?"

Kushina blinked, eyes fading to their original color. "Hm? Oh, yes, just...how does Menma sound?"

_Hmm. So it_ does _work,_ the fox in Naruto's seal muttered.

"Huh?" Naruto said out loud, looking down, conveniently ignoring Sasuke (who sputtered in disbelief for a second, but quickly calmed). "What worked?"

_Transmitting to my previous host,_ Kurama muttered. _Surprisingly effective, even though your mother's seal has less room for freedom. I managed to convince my younger self to be less...hostile? I suppose._

"Hm," Naruto muttered. "Menma...I guess that works." Naruto scrunched his nose in distaste. "But _another_ ramen topping? I just got through convincing myself that my name meant 'maelstrom'..."

Kushina glared at her son. "What's wrong with ramen?"

Naruto stared incredulously at her. "Wh- _absolutely nothing!_ Ramen is the food of the _gods_ , 'ttebayo!"

A beat of silence, then: "I can't believe I just said that," Naruto said, palming his face.

Kushina squealed. " _Ohmygod_ you have my tick, it's _so cute!_ " Minato covered his face with his hands, visible skin glowing red.

Sasuke smirked. "I'm rubbing this in your face _forever_ , I hope you know."

Naruto looked despairingly at his mother, then at his best friend. "Could you not?"

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke, the younger, ran into the house, ignoring his mother's cries of "slow down, Sasuke!" to barrel into his older brother's room.

"Nii-san!" he cried, bodily throwing himself into his older brother, who caught him effortlessly. "Is it true?!"

Itachi blinked. "Is what true?"

"That you quit being a ninja!" Sasuke said, puffing his cheeks in irritation.

"Ah." Itachi flicked a page in his book, ignoring Sasuke's squirming in his arm. "Yes."

"But..." Sasuke's nose crinkled, lost in thought. " _Why?_ "

"Because," Itachi said, flicking another page. "I didn't want to be a ninja any more. Also, because I could. So there's that, too."

"But why _not?_ " Sasuke whined. "Being a ninja is _so cool!_ "

Itachi looked at his brother and poked him in the forehead. Ignoring Sasuke's pout, he smiled. "Just because I don't want to be a ninja doesn't mean that you can't, otouto." Turning his attention back to his book -- Sasuke noticed it was 'The Homeowner's Guide to Leasing' -- he flipped another page. "In fact, I recommend that you keep doing what you love, because that's what I'm going to do."

Sasuke squinted at his book. "Leasing land?"

"Well, no," Itachi said. "But this seems like a good way to start."

"Well, what _are_ you going to do?" Sasuke asked.

"That's a good question," Itachi admitted, before turning another page and falling silent.

"...nii-san?" Sasuke blinked.

Itachi sighed and leaned his forehead to the top of the book. "Sasuke. I was _four_ when I got my Sharingan. When my parents forced me to become a ninja. I never had the chance to have a childhood, like you -- never had the chance to try other things. Is it _any wonder_ I want to try something else for a while?"

Sasuke thought about it, and then in all of his childish wisdom of a proper ten-year-old, nodded. "Yes."

Itachi just looked at him with the gaze of one who had been awake for far too long and seriously should not have any patience for this kind of bullshit but dredged up the last of their patience with a colossal effort to not commit murder. Which was his default expression, anyway. "Hn."


End file.
